Patrick Ruffini wonders in
Winning Young Voters how the GOP can appeal to young voters,
but he looks at only one slice of the 18-29 voters: college
students.
Plenty of those 18-29 year olds are starting families, and from
personal experience, one of the most important decisions young
couples make is where do we send the kids to school? Sometimes you
have a choice of religious or other private schools, but when
you're earnings are low, you have to set those plans aside because
of the tuition they charge.
Bush and the GOP is bent on removing so many low-income earners
from the Federal tax rolls that if the GOP looks at tax credits,
there'll be no one (or few) qualifying.
There are voucher experiments in place around the country, and a
voucher experiment on a grand scale, especially in the Northeast
(think New Jersey with its crushing real estate taxes), would open
up a major league voting bloc the Democrats count on.
Bush did better than most Republicans with Catholic voters (well,
at least those Catholics who actually go to Mass), and it's a real
shame how parochial schools in the Northeast have been closing and
how the ones remaining open have a lot times majority non-Catholic
enrollments.
It's nice to dangle a self-managed retirement plan in front of the
young, but authority over their kids education is an immediate,
'exercise and benefit from it now', perk.